He said to another man, “Follow me.”But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:59-62
I have never really understood this text until now. I mean, Jesus, the Son of God was asking them to follow Him. Jesus, the Lord of the universe. King of Kings. Alpha Omega. And what do they do, they came up with lame excuses.
Then I look at my own life. I could have spent a semester overseas, studying abroad, sharing the gospel over there, but I decided to stay at CBU, because I didn’t want to miss out with times spent with friends there.
When I graduated from college I was planning on spending two years overseas as J-girl. But I decided against it, for many reasons, but one being I had just started going to a new church, and absolutely loved it and my new friends there, and didn’t want to miss out.
And now it’s time to leave, and part of me, a really small part of me is not ready to say goodbye. Saying goodbye to my accountability partners, my small group, my friends. But Jesus is saying, “Come follow me” and I’m not going to give Him any more lame excuses.
I know I will miss out on some incredible teachings; but I’m going to be applying what I learned this past year. I know I will be missing out on some fun hanging outs with some good ol’ friends; but I will be serving and hanging out with some new ones.
